New Delhi:
India celebrates the festival of Maha Shivratri today. Devotees of Lord Shiva will fast, chant 'Om Namah Shiva,' and bathe the shiv lingam with ghee, milk, honey and curd. Fruit, flowers and leaves of the bel or wood apple are offered in prayer. The festival is traditionally celebrated to coincide with the new moon in the month of Magha on the Indian calendar. Devotees believe that the wedding of Lord Shiva and Parvati took place on this day. Twitter is filled with good wishes for Maha Shivratri from celebs and others. News agency IANS quotes several TV stars as saying they are inspired by Lord Shiva as the 'destroyer of evil' and 'god of meditation.' Here's what the actors say:
Niti Taylor: Lord Shiva inspires me a lot. I love to follow him because he is known as the destroyer of evil. He couldn't tolerate injustice and destroyed the evil in a fair manner. Similarly, even we should try to keep zero tolerance for the evil happening around us and take a stand against injustice.
Roop Durgapal: I am a huge devotee of Lord Shiva and everything about him is worth getting inspired. His third eye symbolises that we should not always believe that we see until we are able to see it through our mind's eye. Similarly, his Trishul symbolises controlling our ego, mind and intellectual self.
Helly Shah: An uncontrolled mind can lead you to live a disastrous life. You cannot win your targets when you lose focus and fall prey to your desires and addictions. Therefore, it's necessary to keep your mind aligned to your goals and heart too. Lord Shiva is god of meditation. I feel he inspires me to be focused. I am a big devotee of Shiva.
Tanya Sharma: Take a look at Shiva's attire for a second -- Lord Shiva always stayed away from wealth. You're missing out on nothing in life if you're not attached to wealth and materialistic things. Because materialistic happiness is temporary. You need to find your happiness in events and experiences, and not things. He clearly explains me that materialistic happiness never stays for long.
Abhinav Kapoor: Shiva inspires me to keep calm and keep moving on. Shiva is called a 'Maha Yogi' because he meditated for hours for the well-being of the universe. His calm state of mind was disturbed only due to extreme reasons, but otherwise he would always be in a meditative state of mind.
Mahika Sharma: Shiva teaches us that our ego is the only thing that prevents us from attaining greatness. It is your ego that comes between your goals and your dreams, and makes you a less loving person. He never let his ego get the better of himself. On the other hand, nor did he tolerate anyone else's ego.
Abhishek Malik: On the auspicious occasion of Mahashivaratri I would like to request everyone to not to waste all the milk on gods statues, rather give it to the animals on the street or kids. God will bless you for this.
(With inputs from IANS)
Niti Taylor: Lord Shiva inspires me a lot. I love to follow him because he is known as the destroyer of evil. He couldn't tolerate injustice and destroyed the evil in a fair manner. Similarly, even we should try to keep zero tolerance for the evil happening around us and take a stand against injustice.
Roop Durgapal: I am a huge devotee of Lord Shiva and everything about him is worth getting inspired. His third eye symbolises that we should not always believe that we see until we are able to see it through our mind's eye. Similarly, his Trishul symbolises controlling our ego, mind and intellectual self.
Helly Shah: An uncontrolled mind can lead you to live a disastrous life. You cannot win your targets when you lose focus and fall prey to your desires and addictions. Therefore, it's necessary to keep your mind aligned to your goals and heart too. Lord Shiva is god of meditation. I feel he inspires me to be focused. I am a big devotee of Shiva.
Tanya Sharma: Take a look at Shiva's attire for a second -- Lord Shiva always stayed away from wealth. You're missing out on nothing in life if you're not attached to wealth and materialistic things. Because materialistic happiness is temporary. You need to find your happiness in events and experiences, and not things. He clearly explains me that materialistic happiness never stays for long.
Abhinav Kapoor: Shiva inspires me to keep calm and keep moving on. Shiva is called a 'Maha Yogi' because he meditated for hours for the well-being of the universe. His calm state of mind was disturbed only due to extreme reasons, but otherwise he would always be in a meditative state of mind.
Mahika Sharma: Shiva teaches us that our ego is the only thing that prevents us from attaining greatness. It is your ego that comes between your goals and your dreams, and makes you a less loving person. He never let his ego get the better of himself. On the other hand, nor did he tolerate anyone else's ego.
Abhishek Malik: On the auspicious occasion of Mahashivaratri I would like to request everyone to not to waste all the milk on gods statues, rather give it to the animals on the street or kids. God will bless you for this.
(With inputs from IANS)
